Turkey Vulture : Ebb and Flow

This is a Turkey Vulture. I see them frequently, but this morning I saw many of them. Too many of them. The water level at the lake was very low, and it had exposed a great deal of death. Perhaps the carcasses I saw were simply uncovered by receding waters. Perhaps the carcasses I saw had died from higher temperatures or altered chemistry associated with the smaller water volumes. The why is as troubling as the what. I appreciate vultures. I recognize the critical role they play in the ecosystem, and I’ll confess I even find them oddly attractive. Certainly their flight, soaring and kiting as they do, is almost balletically graceful to watch. Less beautiful was all the trash and human detritus that had also been revealed.

Torah is often analogized to water. Both can be gentle or rock-hard. Both can be fluid or rigid. And we’re taught that should we go too long without either one, we die - physically or spiritually. It is apt to extend the analogy and consider that both water and Torah ebb and flow. There are times in our life that we feel enthused - literally meaning “filled with God.” And there are times that we are drained and depleted, when we question our faith. Maintaining observant lives - following mitzvot, engaging in ethical practices, being aware of our relationship to the Divine - is both challenging and a practice. It takes affirmative effort to maintain our reservoirs in the face of outflows that inevitably arise.

This morning was a challenging one. The surfeit of vultures reflected the abundant physical death. That’s never pleasant. More challenging, though, was the spiritual death reflected in the decisions - or worse indifference - to leave trash all around the lake. Both the water and people’s respect for the value of God’s creation were at an equally low ebb. Repairing the world, physically and spiritually, are both an integral part of our tradition’s teaching. Intention and action, coupled together, heal both our own suffering souls and the imperiled environment in which we live. Each of us is imbued with the capacity and the responsibility. May Torah flow powerfully within us, inspiring our own soaring flight.